Protecting Love
by amg06113
Summary: It has been years since they saw each other, now they much put the past aside to stop a serial killer but can they do it before one of them becomes the next victim? M for language, violence, and lemons
1. Chapter 1

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S.M. owns all things Twilight, I just like writing about them.

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***BPOV***

In the past couple of years I had gone through many changes. When I look back, it was each one of these changes that lead me to where I am now.

I had lost my parents in a tragic accident while in college. This left me without family at all so I began to throw myself into my studies and my work. I had been one of two females in my graduating class for the forensic studies department. I received my masters two years later, and my doctorate a year after that. That landed me here working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I often ended up traveling around the country and world to help with lab work on major cases that required a trained eye. My work allowed me to see all the places I had dreamed of when I was younger, and to try and forget the hurt caused by one person.

I had formed close friendships with some of my coworkers, and we often were sent out together for big cases. This morning we were notified that the agent that we had been working with would be retiring. I was trying not to think about the fact that we would be breaking in a new agent. They always came in so sure and cocky. They tried to treat our team like they didn't need us, and usually they were proven wrong pretty quickly. Max had taken several months to come around, and now because of health issues he was taking an early retirement.

Alice, Jasper, Rose and I sat at our usual booth at the Highland Diner. We were discussing a case we had just finished when I thought I saw a ghost from my past walk by the window. I began coughing almost spitting coffee all over my friends.

"Sweetie, what the hell is wrong with you?" Alice asked me as she pretended to duck for cover. She hid behind Jasper who smiled about this. Alice and Jasper had been skating around their feelings for each other for a while. They met when we started at the FBI and have been joined at the hip since. Rose who was next to me began patting me on the back.

"Are you okay? Geez Bella I thought I was going to have do some kind of rescue maneuver on you." Rose asked partly laughing. I rarely lost my cool, so for me to react like that was out of the ordinary.

"Um, Alice, remember freshman year?" I began and didn't need to say more, it was like she could read my mind. Her head spun around looking out the window and down the street.

"No way! There is no way, I thought he dropped off the face of the earth, because let me tell you he deserved to." The look on her face was priceless.

She was barely 5 feet tall, but people learned fast that she could be one frightening little monster at times. We had known each other since college; she was an art major who had no clue what she wanted to do with herself once she got out of school. We ended up living together all four years in school and then got an apartment together once we graduated. Hearing all my talk about wanting to do forensics made her look into forensic art. When I applied for the job in the lab I saw that the Bureau was looking for a forensic artist and recommended she apply. Alice was there to see me through a broken heart and then the loss of my parents. Sometimes I wasn't sure which had been harder, but what I did know was that if I hadn't had Alice holding my hand I wouldn't have made it.

Jasper looked at his watch and sighed, "We are going to have to get back. The new agent is supposed to be coming by the lab with a new case; I think his name was Colin." He slid out of the booth and helped Alice put her coat on. Rose and I both groaned. I was glad that Jasper had taken the call about Max and the new agent. He had a way of calming those around him. His manner of speaking was older because he was raised in Texas and had come from a long line of gentleman, very intelligent gentleman.

Rose was talking to Alice while we walked out, asking what she thought the new agent would be like. "I hope he is younger than Max. He is a great guy but really, we need someone who isn't putting one foot in the grave this time."

I shook my head at them as we walked back toward the building where our offices and lab were. I put my IPod on and scrolled through the songs. I needed to get into a good mood before getting there so that I would not have to rely on Jasper and a beer after the day was over to calm me down. _No, I need something totally upbeat right now. _I scrolled again, and then settled on one that I knew Rose would approve of and cranked it while I walked. I caught her looking back at one point and knew that she must have been able to hear it. I closed my eyes and just let the rhythm pump me up.

_Patron on the rocks that'll make you moan  
One stack (come on), two stacks (come on), three stacks (come on)  
Now that's three grand  
What you think I'm playing baby girl I'm the man  
I'm dealing rubber bands_

We walked into the lab, and all was still quiet. Rose hip checked me and was dancing to the song that I had playing singing to herself as I laughed and walked to my office. We did most of our work in the center of the lab, and each had a small office that circled the perimeter of it. I was shaking my head at her still listening to the song as I entered my office and stopped dead in my tracks.

"What the fuck!?" I shouted as I saw the ghost from my past sitting in my chair, feet propped up on my desk. Everyone came running when they heard me yell.

"Oh damn. Someone is going to get hurt here, Jazz hold her back. We don't want her killing him until he explains why he is here." Alice said trying to step around me to get in between _him_ and me.

"Hello, Isabella. Oh I am sorry; Max told me you preferred Bella." The velvety voice from behind my desk spoke as if we were complete strangers. It took all I had not to lung across the room at him.

"Jasper Whitlock, I thought you said the new agent was named Colin?" Alice looked at him confused.

"Um, that's what I thought Max said. Why, what is his name."Jasper said scratching his head for the reason I was enraged and Alice seemed concerned.

"Since it appears that Isabella, I mean Bella, sorry. Isn't going to introduce us, I will. My name is Agent Cullen, Edward Cullen. Agent McCarthy will be by shortly with the case files." He said smoothly. He stood up and walked towards us. Rose squeezed my arm and Alice spoke.

"I want to talk to you in my office Agent Cullen. It is important before the case file arrives." She had a tone to her that said he needed to follow her or there would be hell to pay.

As he walked by me he whispered assuming that no one could hear "You still make my mouth water."

***EPOV***

Earlier in the week I had been informed that I would be working with "the geek squad" as they were called by field agents. Others called them the lab rats, I really didn't care. That was until I saw her name on the list of team members. Isabella Marie Swan PhD., forensic scientist. I saw the name and the memories rushed back to me.

We had dated in college, and she was everything I wanted. I just didn't know it until it was too late. Before we started dating I had inquired about enlisting in either the Army or the Marines. I had completed most of the paper work, and tests and was waiting on the date to report to boot camp. I didn't know how to tell her. I figured she wouldn't care. I mean it was only a couple of months. Then the letter came, and I had to tell her that I was leaving in a matter of days. I shook my head wondering if she was anything like she had been back then. I closed my eyes and pictured her; long chestnut brown hair, molten chocolate eyes, the sweetest heart shaped face, skin that I loved touching and a body to die for. She had fit against me like she had been made for me.

I shortly after boot camp I was sent to Kuwait and Iraq for a two year tour of duty with the Delta Force. I had tried writing to Isabella, but I never knew what to say to her. I hadn't seen her for so long, but I thought about her day in and day out and dreamt about her each night. She was what got me through being overseas.

When I returned home I was too much of a coward to track her down and tell her that I needed her in my life. That it had been a mistake for me to end things with her when I left. I tried to move on, I finished school and got my degree and with my experience in Delta applied for a spot with the FBI. I was good at what I did and moved up pretty quickly to a point where I could decide where I wanted to be placed. So here I was in D.C. and I was working up the nerve to enter the lab or the one person I thought I would never see again.

I prepped myself for meeting with her and the rest of her lab rats, another agent, Emmett McCarthy would be joining me on the field work for a serial killer case and thankfully on working with Isabella and her team. I walked into the empty lab that was in the basement of the massive building that housed the field agents. It was a huge lab with equipment everywhere; the center had an elevated area with evidence tables and computers and around the perimeter were private offices. I walked the perimeter going clockwise it was Rosalie Hale, Jasper Whitlock, Bella Swan and Mary Alice Brandon. I looked in to the office of "Bella" and decided to wait for the team to arrive as well as McCarthy who was getting lunch for both of us.

I had explored her office and found that there were no family pictures other than one that looked like the one she had on her desk during college. The only other picture was of "Bella" and three other people sitting at a booth each holding a drink looking like they were celebrating. I sat down at her desk and looked at the woman she had become in the picture. I began to day dream about her. After about ten minutes I heard the door open to the main part of the lab and a couple of voices. I shifted a bit so I could see out the wall that was all window, I saw her walk in with a lanky blonde. She appeared to be listening to music and dancing through the lab. The blonde bumped her with her hip and they laughed. The music got closer and I could almost make out the words. I smiled as she came to her open door.

"What the fuck!?" She shouted as she looked straight at me sitting in her chair, my feet propped up on her desk. Everyone came running when they heard her yell.

"Oh damn. Someone is going to get hurt here, Jazz hold her back. We don't want her killing him until he explains why he is here." A short woman who looked familiar and to be a handful herself said trying to step around Isabella to get in between us.

"Hello, Isabella. Oh I am sorry; Max told me you preferred Bella." I said trying to be as confident as I could. I wish that McCarthy was here, it would be nice to have my own back up since she had hers.

"Jasper Whitlock, I thought you said the new agent was named Colin?" The short one spoke again and looked at him confused.

"Um, that's what I thought Max said. Why, what is his name." The guy named Jasper said scratching his head for the reason Isabella looked to be enraged and her defender seemed concerned.

"Since it appears that Isabella, I mean Bella, sorry. Isn't going to introduce us, I will. My name is Agent Cullen, Edward Cullen. Agent McCarthy will be by shortly with the case files." I said as smoothly as I could. I stood up and walked towards the group trying to be polite.

Then Isabella's petite defender spoke in a very serious tone. "I want to talk to you in my office Agent Cullen. It is important before the case file arrives."

As I walked passed Isabella to follow her out I whispered to myself assuming that no one could hear "You still make my mouth water." The sudden change in her stance and extreme blush of her cheeks told me that Isabella did hear me, and maybe remembered my telling her that before.

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This is my second attempt at writing with Bella and Edward, I hope you enjoy it. I am hoping to have some fun with the two of them here. Please review, good or bad! The next chapter will be up later today or tomorrow.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and the characters, I just own a copy of the books and the stories in my head.**

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***APOV***

I could not believe what or rather who I was seeing. The nerve of him to waltz in here and be cocky in regards to Bella. I was going to let Max know that he was in trouble for this as well.

He followed me into my office and I closed the door. I took a deep breath and then turned on him. "Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, what the hell are you doing here?! Why did you have to turn up now? When she was finally getting over things? Do you realize how hurt she was when you left and didn't come back? Not to mention you never called or wrote ever?" It all came out in a rush. I needed to let him know that this wasn't cool and that neither Bella nor I had forgotten how he had treated her.

He looked at me like I was insane. Then there was his reply "Well it is nice to see you again Alice. Let's see the answers would be; I am the new agent assigned to the Pin-Up murders. Again I was assigned here, not much of a choice in things. No, I didn't, I have my reasons for things, and it has been just as hard for me so let's not go there. Did I miss anything?" He wore a cocky grin.

"Edward, I don't think you understand." I began to say

"Alice, I don't think you get it. I'm not here to make Isabella's life hard I am here to catch a murderer, and your lab is the best in the country." He stalked closer to me, his voice lower, so that no one outside of my office could hear him now, "Just so you know, I have spent the last few years trying to find a reason other than her to get up in the morning. I was too much of a coward to track her down when I came back from my tour overseas; I was too ashamed of the things I did while away to sully her doorstep. I knew she would do better than me, so I have lived day to day trying to make myself a better man on the off chance that I ever saw her again. I let go of the best thing that ever happened to me because I thought she wouldn't want me anymore. So please don't try to lecture me about what she has been through, because I traveled my own personal hell without her."

A voice called out from in the lab "Agent Cullen. Hey Ed where are you?" He turned and walked out of my office and as I watched him I realized what he hadn't said.

"Damn it all to hell!" I yelled and Jasper stuck his in the open door and knocked at the same time.

"Everything okay?" He asked as he walked in and sat down on the small sofa in my office. He looked worried, and I was so glad he was here. I sat down next to him and put my head on his shoulder.

"He loves her. Damn it she has spent the last ten years getting over him and now he shows up and he loves her." Then I got an idea, and Jasper must have sensed the change in my mood.

"Alice, my dear, I can see the wheels turning in your beautiful head. What are you planning? And do I need to take a vacation to Texas so that I can safely say that I was not involved?" Jasper asked with a chuckle at the end.

"Jasper if you help me out on this, I will let you buy me that dinner you asked about the other day." I said with a smile. Suddenly he wasn't so sure about running away to protect him from Bella's wrath.

"Promise?" He asked just before hugging me and then helping me stand up to exit my office. The other agent had arrived while Edward and I were having our talk.

*BPOV*

Alice had requested to talk to Edward in her office. Rose pulled me aside and demanded to know what was going on. So I gave her the annotated version of things.

"Damn, Bella. I think we better let that man know that you still have it bad for him. Because when he walked out of this office you could cut the tension with a knife. Sweet you aren't over him and I doubt that he is over you. The sexual tension has been on the rise with Alice and Jasper, but my dear Mr. Tie-me-up-Tie-me-down in Alice's office looked at you like you were sex on a stick.

I was about to argue with her about it when we heard another new voice call out from inside the lab. "Agent Cullen, Hey Ed where are you?" We looked out the window and saw what looked like a grizzly in a suite carrying take out bags.

"Who is that?" Rose asked. We watched Edward walk out of Alice's office and Jasper walk in. We looked at each other and both rolled our eyes. Then Rose said something I didn't expect "Yum" If I hadn't been right next to her, I might not have heard her. I looked back out at the two agents in the lab, looking for a place to eat.

Rose and I walked out of my office to the middle of the lab. I figured I needed to be polite since it was obvious that they weren't going away anytime soon.

"You can use the conference room to eat in. Do you mind if we look over the case files while you eat?" I was forcing a smile on my face and it was very hard. All I could think about were the days of waiting for a letter, anything to tell me he was okay. Hoping for the call saying "I'm back, I'm home, I missed you", that too never came. There he stood my personal reminder of how stupid I could be.

"Well hello! I am Agent McCarthy, you can call me Emmett. And you are?" The giant grizzly spoke, extending a hand to me but only having eyes for Rose. Ugh this was going to be ridiculous.

"How about you eat, and then we will do the full round of introductions okay?" I stated more than asked getting annoyed by the constant sexual tension that seemed to follow my colleagues around but totally missed me. I showed them the way to the conference room.

"Isabella, why don't you sit down and join us?" Edward asked trying to be polite, I assumed. It could have just been a ploy or reverse psychology to make sure that I was uncomfortable and left them alone.

"We already ate before you got here, that's where we were coming from when I found you sitting at my desk. But thank you for the offer." I said and walked out to the lab, I went up to the work station that contained photos that Max had sent yesterday, we wouldn't have anything more until Edward let us take a look at the files.

"Dude, when this is over I got dibs on the blonde!" I heard Agent McCarthy say, and then he added "So, Isabella? That's not the same, hey wait a minute! That is the chick you have the picture of in your drawer! You sly dog. Getting sent to work with your own naughty lab rat!" I thought I was going to die right there. They must not have realized that I could hear him at all. He had a picture of me in his drawer? That didn't make sense.

"Shut it McCarthy! It's been 10 years since she has been my anything. And don't call her a lab rat!" Edward's voice came out almost as a growl. I began to hope that we caught the Pin-Up murderer, as the FBI was calling him, very soon. I didn't know how much of Edward I could take. And having him fill my work shape was almost as bad as having him play the starring role in my dreams and fantasies.

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So? How is it, tell me honestly.


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